You promised it would be a free game, but now your screen is full of in-app purchase prompts?

After Eggplant took off the AR helmet, the game screen automatically paused.

Back in the real world, Eggplant was still terrified, his heart pounding.

"Holy crap! Guys, this game is terrifying!"

"I don't want to play anymore!"

Eggplant pushed the camera pointing at him aside.

A few seconds later, viewers in the live stream heard the clicking sound of a lighter.

Then, puffs of smoke drifted into the camera's field of view from the side.

Clearly, this guy is having a smoke to calm his nerves.

[Hahaha! No, stop! Come back and keep playing!]

[Weren't you so arrogant at the beginning? Saying you could pass without spending any money, and this is it?]

[Stop fucking stubborn! Bao Ge and Piao Laoshi next door have each spent over 2,000 points and are already on level 7. You can't even get past level 3. How many times have you died?]

[Couldn't you at least buy the first recharge bonus to get the shopping cart? Without it, there's practically no room for error!]

[Don't listen to these guys, you can beat this game without spending money! The genius kid next door, Little Dingdang, has already reached level five without spending a single penny!]

[Holy crap, are you kidding me? You got to level 5 without spending a single penny? Is that even possible?]

[You don't believe me? Go see for yourself! That guy didn't even have a pushcart! He relied entirely on his own strategy and operations to win, it's mind-blowing! His thinking is amazing!]

This game doesn't actually have much to do with skillful gameplay, or rather, it's not the kind of game that tests skill. However, it heavily relies on strategic thinking and management skills!

……

After smoking half a cigarette, Eggplant seemed to have recovered a bit.

He had already had his brain eaten by zombies several times and was so frightened that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He didn't want to experience that feeling anymore.

But then I saw fans in the live stream saying that other streamers had already reached such and such places.

In an instant, his competitive spirit was rekindled.

After gritting his teeth and pondering for a long time, Eggplant suddenly shoved the cigarette butt into the ashtray, then deftly put the AR helmet back on his head.

"Damn it! I don't believe it!"

Thirty seconds later...

[The zombie ate your brain!!!]

As a bloody message appeared in the center of the screen, Eggplant once again hurriedly removed the AR helmet.

"what!"

"what!"

"Aaaaaaahh ...

"Don't eat me! Don't eat me!!!"

【What are you calling me?!】

Why are you shouting so loudly?

Thank you so much, you're such a kind person! I thought it was a bit noisy on the street outside, but now it's all clear!

[Screw you! You owe me my ears!!!]

……

Eggplant wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Even though I know perfectly well that this is a game, and it's fake.

But each time he failed, the zombies rushed into the house, pinned him down, and devoured him, filling him with immense terror.

The main reason is that Fengyun Games made the experience of this scene too good and too realistic.

He now strongly suspects that the game company's grandson, the game's planner, deliberately made the game's failure screen so realistic.

The purpose is to force players to spend money on in-game purchases!

"Fine! Fine! I refuse to believe that even spending money won't make us lose!!!"

After the fourth failure, the eggplant finally couldn't hold on any longer.

Amidst the surprised gazes of his fans, Eggplant put the AR helmet back on.

After entering the game, I immediately clicked on the recharge entrances in the upper right corner that I had previously dismissed and closed.

[First recharge of 6 yuan! Get it!]

[30 RMB monthly pass! Grab it!]

[A 90 RMB quarterly pass! Grab it!]

[A limited-time super fertilizer gift pack for only 68 yuan! Grab it now!]

In less than a minute, Eggplant spent nearly 200 yuan to buy all four early-stage gift packs.

Then, following the advice of his fans in the live stream, he used all his silver coins to buy a rapid-fire Peashooter.

After doing all that, Eggplant clicked "Start Game" again and entered the third level.

"Should we feed the sunflowers directly with super fertilizer?"

"Isn't this a bit wasteful? Fifty for sixty-eight yuan, and this super fertilizer costs more than one yuan each..."

"Are you sure you want to take advantage of the sunlight in the early stages?"

"Alright! I'll listen to you this once!"

Even though he had already spent money, Eggplant was still like many players who were spending money for the first time, reluctant to use game items.

Especially things that you actually buy with real money.

In his view, it seemed wasteful to just use it up like that.

However, seeing many fans in the live stream advising him against it, he still dragged a bag of super fertilizer onto the first sunflower he had planted.

Then something shocking happened.

The sunflower, which used to jump out at the sun every 15 seconds, is now acting like it's gone crazy, jumping out at the sun every few seconds.

This opened the door to a whole new world for Eggplant, who had never experienced pay-to-win gameplay before.

"Holy crap! Sunshine every five or six seconds! If we keep playing like this, by the time the first wave of zombies comes out, I reckon we can plant a whole row of Peashooters!"

"Now I finally know how Brother Bao and Teacher Piao got to level seven! Playing like that, I can beat them even faster!"

"Guys, watch this! I'm starting to catch up with them right now! We have to catch up with them today!"

……

Xiao Dingdang's live stream room.

[Awesome!]

[Awesome!]

[That's incredible! I beat level 6 without spending a single penny!]

[This speed is almost catching up with the progress that Bao Ge and his group made by spending several thousand yuan, it's unbelievable...]

……

At this moment, the chat in Xiao Dingdang's live stream was filled with nothing but "awesome!" comments.

For no other reason than that Little Dingdang just passed level six.

Although their progress is still a bit slower than Bao Ge's group, you should know that Xiao Dingdang didn't even buy the six yuan first recharge!

"Alright guys, we've saved up enough silver coins. I can go take down the Rapid Fire Peashooter now."

"With this rapid-fire Peashooter, I can change my playstyle again."

"Now let's begin the seventh level."

As he explained, Little Dingdang entered Dave's shop and used the 70 silver coins he had saved up over several levels to buy the Rapid Fire Peashooter.

I then re-entered the game.

His first action, like all other players in the game, was to use his initial 25 suns to buy a sunflower.

This is also the only thing you can buy with the starting sun, besides the free Puff-shrooms.

In the early stages of operation, Little Dingdang remained calm at all. Wherever zombies appeared, he would use his little mushrooms to block them.

Although the little mushroom's attack power isn't great, it can still kill a single ordinary zombie, though it looks a bit thrilling and exciting.

However, Xiao Dingdang's method of planting sunflowers is different from that of ordinary players; he did not plant the sunflowers directly in the last row.

Instead, they deliberately left two rows empty and planted sunflowers on the three paths where zombies would first appear.

The guy actually chose to completely abandon the remaining two lines.

Seeing this, many new viewers who had just entered the live stream couldn't hold back their excitement.

[Holy crap, what are you doing?! A zombie's practically in my face! Quick, plant a Peashooter to block it!]

[If we don't stop them now, we're doomed!]

[Is this what a prodigy looks like? How come he's so bad at the game? He doesn't seem to know how to play.]

[Hahaha! The newcomers are worried that Little Dingdang won't know how to play, but the veteran viewers are already familiar with this guy's tricks!]

Don't worry, Dingdang is about to show you how to run the business!

……

At this moment, the live stream room is filled with new viewers offering criticism and suggestions.

However, Little Dingdang remained completely unfazed by these people's doubts.

In the early stages, he used all his resources to plant sunflowers, and his only output was a few small spore mushrooms.

Moreover, in order to withstand three lines, he chose to abandon two lines.

This also means that one of the two abandoned lines is now almost in front of their face, with the zombie.

Even so, he remained completely calm.

"Alright! Enough sunlight."

After receiving another ray of sunshine, Little Dingdang looked at the sunshine in the upper left corner of his status bar, which had increased from 175 to 200, and a faint smile flashed across his face.

He then calmly bought a rapid-fire Peashooter and planted it directly in the last square of the path.

With the high damage from the rapid-fire Peashooter, even though the ordinary zombie was already right in front of him and about to grab the doorknob, he was still able to kill it.

However, he was still killed by a barrage of Peashooters without any real danger.

In addition, since Xiao Dingdang had been planting sunflowers at the beginning of the game, he now has eight sunflowers, which produce sunlight very quickly.

So on the other abandoned line, also at the crucial moment when the zombies were about to reach the last one, Little Dingdang almost caught a rapid-fire Peashooter at the last minute and planted it.

The crisis on this road was quickly resolved.

Now, those new fans who were just complaining that Xiao Dingdang didn't know how to play were instantly speechless...

Sorry, my voice was a little loud just now...

[Holy crap! This game can actually be played like this?!]

[Now I understand what he was doing from the beginning! This is perfect marketing! This kind of thinking is unbeatable! No wonder he's a genius.]

[Starting with two lanes open, using free Puff-shrooms to hold off three lanes, then planting Peashooters in quick succession on the remaining two lanes—regardless of strategy, the timing alone is impeccable! Truly amazing!]

Alright, now it's my turn to play!

Please get off my gaming device!

[Once the game started well, there was little suspense afterward.]

Why does it seem like he was doing something really dangerous, but in reality there was no real risk involved?

[This is the charm of a top-notch operations manager! So impressive!]

……

At this point, all the new viewers in the live stream had figured out what Xiao Dingdang was doing.

It has to be said that this line of thinking is truly refreshing and very insightful.

It also directly opened a door to a new world for everyone.

I saw Bao Ge and his friends playing the game by spending money on in-game purchases as soon as they entered, turning the game into a hacked version.

While that kind of gameplay is certainly exciting to watch, the way Dingdang relies purely on management is equally addictive and very enjoyable to watch.